Combined water pump and valve



M. W. BOWEN COMBINED-WATER PUMP AND VALVE .Fgled Sept. 28. 1942 1 INVENTO/Z MYEON W. BOWEN ATTO NEYS Patented July 18, 1944 COMBINED WATER PUMP AND VALVE Myron W. Bowen, Niles, Mich., assignor to Bendix Home Appliances, Inc., South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application September 28, 1942, Serial No. 460,026

'7 Claims. (Cl. 103-103) This invention relates to a combined water ump and valve, primarily for controlling the discharge of water from washing machines. The drain pipe from a Washing machine sometimes II fastened together in any conventional manner, such as by screws i3 passing through 'holes in the cover it and threaded into bosses II on the housing It. An impeller It provided with rises outside the washing machine for delivery 5 blades l1 and i8 is mounted on the pump shaft of drain water into a laundry tub, and sometimes IS in a manner permitting the shaft l9 to move runs directly to a low-level sewer connection. lengthwise within the hub of the impeller, the Under either of these conditions it is important shaft and impeller hub being provided with registo have a valve in the waste water discharge line; tering flat portions 20 and 22 or their equivalent in one condition to prevent water from running to compel the rotation of the impeller with the out of the tub and into the sewer when disshaft. The shaft 59 is here illustrated as revolvcharge of water is not desired, and in the other ing within an Oiiite bushing 24 provided with a condition to prevent water from the waste water flange 25 at its inner end against which abuts pipe from running backwards into the tub after a gasket 21 rotating with the impeller. A slight the discharge operation. pressure is maintained between the gasket 2'! Heretofore it has been common practice to and the flange 25 through springs 38 located in include a magnetically operated discharge valve recesses 3| in the hub of the impeller. The in the discharge conduit. In some constructions springs 35), through their pressure on the valve the discharge pump is permitted to run all of head 32, serving also to press the valve head 32 the time, the discharge being fully controlled by against the rubber or similar valve seat 36 to close the valve. In some other constructions the disoff the pump intake 35 when the pump is not in charge pump is caused to run periodically and operation. A pump discharge 36 leads tangenonly at times when discharge is desired, the flow, tially from the periphery of the pump houshowever, being also controlled by a valve. ing it.

In accordance with the present. invention a The blades ll of the impeller perform the usual discharge valve is incorporated within the pump function of impelling the liquid within the pump structure and so arranged that the opening and by centrifugal force outwardly through the disclosing of the discharge valve is caused to coincharge 36. The blades I8 serve to create a slight cide with the starting and stopping of the water suction on the bearing between the flange and pump throughphysical connections between the gasket 27 to insure the prevention of leakage shaft of the water pump and the valve head. of liquid outwardly between the shaft i9 and the One object of the invention is to provide a bushing 28. simplified and inexpensive structure. At the left end of Figs. 1 and 2 there is illus- Another object of the invention is to provide trated the end of a power driven shaft 40, prefera waste water valve in which there is relative 5 ably the motor shaft itself, on which there is rotation between the valve and its seat effective, mounted a collar 41 provided with a rubber clutch for the dislodgment of solids found in the waste surface 42, all in axial alignment with the pump water stream which with the ordinary type of shaft i9. A corresponding clutch surface 44 is valve sometimes become lodged between the seat mounted on a collar 45 fixed on the end of the and the valve disc in such a way as to hold the shaft IS. The shaft and valve head 32 and clutch valve open when it is important that it shall member 44 are movedto the left, Figs. 1 and 2, close. by means of a yoke .41 pivoted at .48 and rocked My inventionis illustrated in the accompanyon its pivot by a magnetic solenoid, or other'powing drawing in which, er transmitting device, to cause the shoes 50 to Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-section through the press the flange of the collar 45 to change the pump, valve and operating clutch for the pump clutch and associated parts from the position and valve, showing the valve in its normal and shown in Fig. l to that shown in Fig. 2 in which closed position. theclutch faces 42 and M are in operating con- Fig. 2 is a similar view, partly in section, showtact. ing the valve in its open and the clutch in its In the operation of my combined pump and closed position. drain valve, water having been admitted to the Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. washing machine tub is held against discharge Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, and by the contact of the valve head 32 on the rub- Fig 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 1. her valve seat 34. The motor at this time is run- My invention comprises a housing I!) and cover ning and the clutch member 42 is revolving.

When discharge of the water is desired a timer and other mechanism not shown causes the yoke 41 to rock upon its pivot 48, opening the valve, then closing the clutch and causing the rotation of the impeller in a clockwise direction, Fig. 3. Waste water is thus drawn from the tub and either discharged into a sewer outlet at a level lower than the pump, or else lifted to a higher level through a discharge hose or pipe attached to the pump outlet 36. At the end of the discharge period the yoke 41 is released and the springs 30 cause a quick return of the valve head 32 upon the seat 34. The inertia of the impeller and associated parts rotating therewith will cause a very slight rotation of the valve head 32 on its seat 34, enough, however, to loosen and help discharge any solids which have adhered either to the valve head 32 or the valve seat 34. The relative rotation of valve head and valve seat, however, ceases very quickly after the two parts have engaged one another, since the friction of the valve head on the seat, coupled with the friction of the rotating waste water within the pump, is s'uflicient quickly to bring the impeller to rest.

When the pump is at rest neither the slight pressure from within the, tub nor pressure outside the tubwithin a rising discharge pipe can cause any flow of waste water past the now closed valve into or out of the tub.

It will be seen that by the use of my invention one operating solenoid, or similar device, is caused positively to both start and stop the impeller and to open and close the valve. The slight rotation of one member of the valve upon the other serves to rid the valve of foreign matter and preserve its sealing condition.

Although I have shown and described my invention as applied to a specific structure and for a specific purpose, it is to be understood that it has a wide application and, therefore, I do not wish to be unduly limited to the details of the construction illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. In a combined waste water pump and waste pipe valve, a pump housing having inlet and discharge ope'nings, a valve member within the housing normally closing the inlet opening, an

impeller within the housing aligned with the r valve member, a shaft for driving. the impeller having axial movement relative to said impeller and carrying said valve member, and means for moving said shaft axially for opening and closing said valve, and means for rotating said shaft for rotating the impeller.

2. In a combined waste water pump and waste pipe valve, a pump housing having inletand discharge openings, a valve member within the housing normally closing the inlet opening, an impeller within the housing aligned with the valve member, a shaft for driving the impeller having axial movement relative to said impeller and carrying said valve member. and means for moving said shaft axially for opening and closing said valve, and means for rotating said impeller and valve member.

3. In a combined waste water pump and waste pipe valve, a housing, an impeller within the slightly less housing, said impeller being formed of a disc of the housing and having impeller blades on one side of said disc and suction blades on the other side of said disc, a shaft journaled in the housing axially movable through the hub of said impeller, a valve part carried on the end of said shaft within the intake chamber of said housing, spring means between said valve part and the impeller tending to push the valve part towards the intake of the housing and the impeller towards the journal for the shaft, the housing and the impeller having abutting working faces surrounding the shaft and its journal bearing in a plane substantially normal to the axis of the shaft, said spring means serving to hold said abutting faces in contact with one another, the

suction blades on said impeller serving to create a suction on said. abutting faces whereby waste water which leaks along the shaft between the impeller hub and the shaft will be drawn away from the journal bearing between the shaft and the housing, and means for moving the shaft axially to move the valve part against and away from the waste water entrance to the housing.

4. In a combined waste water pump and waste pipe valve, an impeller for said pump, a shaft connecting said impeller with one member of said valve to cause'their simultaneous rotation, and a connection between said shaft and impeller to drive said impeller but allowing sliding axial movement of said shaft relative to said impeller for opening said valve while said impeller is stationary, and for closing the valve while said impeller and said one member of the valve are rotating.

5. In a combined waste water pump and waste pipe valve, an impeller for said pump, a shaft carrying the impeller and one member of the valve and mounted for axial movement for cxpening and closing said valve, and a rotatable frictional contacting member positioned to contact and to rotate said shaft in the valve open position of the axial movement of 'said shaft.

,6. In a water pump and waste pipe valve, an impeller for said pump, a housing, a shaft journaled in the housing for driving the impeller, an enlargement on the end of the shaft within the housing, a spring between the enlargement and the impeller, a sealing gasket surrounding the shaft and rotating with the impeller and held against a portion of the housing by the said spring, and a shaft connected to drive said impeller but slidable axially relative to said impeller and secured to sa-idsealing gasket for moving said enlargement and said gasket relative to said impeller.

'1. In a combined water pump and valve, an impeller, a shaft carrying said impeller and one member of said valve and mounted for axial movement relative to said impeller for opening and closing said valve, and a rotatable member positioned to contact and rotate said shaft in the valve open position of the axial movement of said shaft.

MYRON W. BOWEN.

in diameter than the inner diameter 7 

